1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to appliances, such as salad spinners, useful in the preparation of certain foods and more specifically to an improved battery-operated salad spinner.
2. Description of Related Art
Salad spinners are appliances useful in food preparation, particularly in cleaning certain fruits and vegetables. Typically an individual washes such foods by immersion in a water bath or by directing a stream of water onto the food from a faucet. In many situations it is desirable to dry these washed foods. Salad spinners provide such a drying function by centrifuge action. That is, they spin the food in a basket about an axis with the result that water oh the food displaces to a surrounding bowl.
A number of prior art salad spinners are hand-operated. U.S. Pat. No. 5,865,109 (1999) to Bull, U.S. Pat. No. 5,904,090 (1999) to Lillelund et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,992,309 (1999) to Mulhauser et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 6,018,883 (2000) to Mulhauser disclose such hand-operated salad spinners. Each has a mechanical actuator. In accordance with the Bull patent, a user moves a handle back and forth in a horizontal plane about a vertical axis that is offset from the center of the salad spinner. A user rotates a handle in a horizontal plane in the salad spinner that the Lillelund et al. patent discloses. In the salad spinners of the Mulhauser et al. and Mulhauser patents, a user pushes an actuator down along a central vertical axis toward a support to rotate a basket; a spring returns the actuator to an original upper position. In the Lillelund the actuator reciprocates along a vertical axis or rotates about an axis. It is a common operating characteristic of each of these systems that the user must continue to repeat these motions until a desired level of drying has been achieved.
Each of these salad spinners has several common characteristics. Each requires manual mechanical cranking or similar operations. Each requires a two-handed operation. That is, one hand must support the salad spinner in a fixed position on a counter or like support while the other hand produces the required mechanical motion. This requires a certain level of dexterity that may not be enjoyed by all persons. Spin speed is not constant. Operating efficiency depends on spin speed (i.e., the angular velocity provided by the salad spinner). As spin speeds drop, the time required to complete a spinning or drying operation increases. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a salad spinner that overcomes these characteristics. That is, it would be desirable to provide a salad spinner that spins at a constant speed and that can be operated with a single hand.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,702,162 (1987) to Sontheimer et al. discloses a salad spinner constructed as an accessory for a conventional food processor. Such an approach does provide a powered drive that eliminates any manual operations and uneven spinning speeds. However, conventional food processors operate at speeds that are much to high to be applied directly to a salad spinning operation. Consequently, the salad spinner of this patent includes a speed reducing mechanism. This speed reducing mechanism is isolated from the food receptacle. The addition of an isolated speed reducing mechanism produces a complex accessory that is difficult and costly to manufacture.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,343,546 (2002) to Ancona et al. discloses another electric salad spinner embodiment. This salad spinner comprises a base component, a generally cylindrical basket component, a lid having a handle, and on/off switch and a drive motor. The cover may also have a liquid dispenser assembly. In this device, liquid accumulates in the bottom of the base component. To remove the liquid it is necessary to remove the lid and the basket component so the base component can be inverted to empty any accumulated liquid.
In many of the foregoing salad spinners, the basket has an open top and a stationary lid or cover for the base component or bowl provides the means for keeping food in the basket. U.S. Pat. No. 5,562,025 (1996) to Bull discloses a salad spinner with a bowl and a colander for rotation in the bowl. A mechanical drive mechanism in a lid rotates a fixed plate that engages the colander. This does provide a cover that is stationary with respect to the colander. However, the plate is closely spaced to the lid, so cleaning is difficult.
As will now be apparent, each of the foregoing salad spinners and related devices has certain drawbacks. Some are difficult to operate. Others are difficult to clean. Still others required extended times for completing a spinning operation. In addition, each discloses an apparatus with a single basket having a storage volume that corresponds to the storage volume of the bowl or base member. There are situations in which it would be preferable to provide a system that would accommodate differently sized baskets that could be more closely matched to the requirements of a particular spinning task. Moreover, the electrically driven salad spinners are more costly to manufacture than are the manually operated salad spinners.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide an electrically operated salad spinner that provides easy, one-handed use and that approximates the costs of a manually operated salad spinner.
Another object of this invention is to provide an electrically operated salad spinner that provides one-handed easy use and provides constant speed spinning operations.
Still another object of this invention is to provide a salad spinner that can be used during the washing or soaking of food.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide a salad spinner that accommodates differently sized baskets for improved flexibility and convenience and with minimal storage requirements.
Yet still another object of this invention is to provide a salad spinner that accommodates differently sized baskets and can operate different constant spinning speeds optimized for each basket.
Still yet another object of this invention is to provide a motor drive that is particularly adapted for use with salad spinners and other like devices.
In accordance with this invention a salad spinner comprises a bowl having an open top and a closed bottom with a central pivot and an open-top lattice basket with a bottom portion carrying a central bearing for engaging the central pivot upon insertion in the bowl. A removable cover spans the open top of the bowl and includes an electric drive with a centrally disposed drive shaft emerging from the cover toward the bowl. A drive wheel has a central hub engaging the drive shaft and a driving surface for engaging the basket in a positive driving relationship whereby energizing the electric drive causes the drive wheel to spin the basket relative to the bowl.